Suchtprävention im Kindes- und Jugendalter

Viele PädagogInnen werden irgendwann in ihrer beruflichen Laufbahn mit dem Thema Sucht konfrontiert. Besonders für diese Profession spielt die damit in Zusammenhang stehende Prävention eine wesentliche Rolle. Dabei interessieren vor allem das Erleben von PädagogInnen hinsichtlich umgesetzter suchtpräventiver Konzepte, deren Sinn sowie entstandene Grenzen und deren Verhinderung bzw. Optimierung. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist, das Problemfeld Sucht theoretisch und empirisch zu ergründen. Zum bestmöglichen Verständnis werden daher im ersten Teil wesentliche Begriffe definiert und die Formen der Sucht – dies sind substanzgebundene Drogensüchte sowie substanzungebundene Verhaltenssüchte – erläutert. Des Weiteren folgt die Darstellung verschiedener Sichtweisen möglicher Ursachen süchtigen Verhaltens. Anschließend wird die Situation in Österreich hinsichtlich des Suchtverhaltens junger Menschen anhand aktueller Zahlen veranschaulicht sowie darauffolgende Interventionsmöglichkeiten aufgezeigt. Der Schwerpunkt des ersten Abschnittes beschäftigt sich mit dem Themenbereich der Suchtprävention, indem der Begriff definiert wird, Arten und Ziele der Prävention erläutert und einige der vielfältigen Methoden und Konzepte diskutiert werden. Zur Veranschaulichung werden die Arbeitsfelder Kindergarten, Schule sowie außerschulische Jugendarbeit herangezogen und eine Vielzahl an Beispielen und Ideen zur praktischen Durchführung suchtpräventiver Maßnahmen dargestellt. Die Absicht dahinter ist, PädagogInnen – welche in dem Problemfeld Sucht tätig sind – zu unterstützen und in ihrer Arbeit zu bestärken. Mögliche Grenzen suchtpräventiven Handelns werden, ebenso wie allgegenwärtige Fehler diesbezüglich, erörtert und kritisch diskutiert. Der zweiten Teil der Arbeit befasst sich mit der empirischen Erschließung des Forschungsfeldes. Dazu wurden offen geführte Interviews nach der qualitativen Methode analysiert und deren Inhalte im Hinblick auf die Fragestellungen interpretiert. Mit diesem Vorgehen, sollen auf Erfahrung beruhende Konzepte suchtpräventiver Maßnahmen im Kindes- und Jugendalter sowie mögliche Grenzen der Suchtprävention dargestellt und ein Bezug zu den theoretischen Annahmen hergestellt werden.The issue of addiction is one that many pedagogues are confronted with at some point in their career. Hence, preventive measures play a significant role particularly for members of this profession. The experience of the pedagogues with regard to the conduction of preventative concepts and their purpose is of main interest as well as the prevention or improvement of possible limitations. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the issue of addiction from a theoretical and empirical point of view. In the first part basic terms are defined in order to provide optimal understanding and different forms of addiction, namely substance related drug addictions and substance unrelated behavioural addictions, are elaborated on. Additionally, different perceptions of possible reasons for addictive behaviour are explained. Furthermore, the situation in Austria with respect to addictive behaviour of young people is illustrated by means of current figures and subsequent measures of precautionary intervention are presented. The focus of the first part is on prevention of addiction; the term is defined, types and goals are explained and some of the various methods and concepts are discussed. The domains Kindergarten, school and extracurricular youth work are used for demonstration and numerous examples and considerations concerning the execution of addiction prevention measures are illustrated. The objective is to support and encourage pedagogues who are confronted with the issue of addiction at work. Possible limitations of addiction prevention concepts as well as related common mistakes are debated and critically discussed. The second part of the thesis deals with the empirical analysis of this field of research. For the purpose of this study, open interviews were conducted; they are analysed by means of the qualitative method and the content is interpreted with regard to the subject matter. This approach is used to demonstrate concepts of addiction prevention for children and youths that are based on experience and to indicate shortcomings of preventive measures. Furthermore, it allows establishing a relation to the theoretical hypotheses

Palladium-catalysed synthesis of arylnaphthoquinones as antiprotozoal and antimycobacterial agents

Malaria and tuberculosis are still among the leading causes of death in low-income countries. The 1,4-naphthoquinone (NQ) scaffold can be found in a variety of anti-infective agents. Herein, we report an optimised, high yield process for the preparation of various 2-arylnaphthoquinones by a palladium-catalysed Suzuki reaction. All synthesised compounds were evaluated for their in-vitro antiprotozoal and antimycobacterial activity. Antiprotozoal activity was assessed against Plasmodium falciparum (P.f.) NF54 and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (T.b.r.) STIB900, and antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis (M.s.) mc(2) 155. Substitution with pyridine and pyrimidine rings significantly increased antiplasmodial potency of our compounds. The 2-aryl-NQs exhibited trypanocidal activity in the nM range with a very favourable selectivity profile. (Pseudo)halogenated aryl-NQs were found to have a pronounced effect indicating inhibition of mycobacterial efflux pumps. Cytotoxicity of all compounds towards L6 cells was evaluated and the respective selectivity indices (SI) were calculated. In addition, the physicochemical parameters of the synthesised compounds were discussed

Diterpenes and Phenolic Compounds from Salvia brachyodon Vandas

Salvia brachyodon, the short-tooth sage, is one of the rarest plant species and endemic in the Adriatic area of the Balkan Peninsula. As aside from its essential oil, only limited information on its phytochemical composition is known, a more detailed study of the leaves was undertaken. From its leaves two diterpenes, agastanol (2), and a new natural compound 1, i.e., 3-methyl-4-methylen-11,12,14-trihydroxy-8,11,13-abietatrien-7-one, were isolated and identified by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. In addition, caffeic acid, isoquercitrin, luteolin 7-O-glucoside and rosmarinic acid were identfied by comparison with reference compounds. The fraction containg the diterpenes as well as the isolated compound 1 showed significant antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis. The diterpenes of S. brachyodon represent promising antimycobacterial substances for further evaluation. Due to the endangered nature of the plant, the wide use of S. brachyodon and its bioactive compounds could be achieved by growing the plants in culture

Allergens induce enhanced bronchoconstriction and leukotriene production in C5 deficient mice

BACKGROUND: Previous genetic analysis has shown that a deletion in the complement component 5 gene-coding region renders mice more susceptible to allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) due to reduced IL-12 production. We investigated the role of complement in a murine model of asthma-like pulmonary inflammation. METHODS: In order to evaluate the role of complement B10 mice either sufficient or deficient in C5 were studied. Both groups of mice immunized and challenged with a house dust extract (HDE) containing high levels of cockroach allergens. Airways hyper-reactivity was determined with whole-body plesthysmography. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed to determine pulmonary cellular recruitment and measure inflammatory mediators. Lung homogenates were assayed for mediators and plasma levels of IgE determined. Pulmonary histology was also evaluated. RESULTS: C5-deficient mice showed enhanced AHR to methylcholine challenge, 474% and 91% increase above baseline Penh in C5-deficient and C5-sufficient mice respectively, p < 0.001. IL-12 levels in the lung homogenate (LH) were only slightly reduced and BAL IL-12 was comparable in C5-sufficient and C5-deficient mice. However, C5-deficient mice had significantly higher cysteinyl-leukotriene levels in the BAL fluid, 1913 +/- 246 pg/ml in C5d and 756 +/- 232 pg/ml in C5-sufficient, p = 0.003. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that C5-deficient mice show enhanced AHR due to increased production of cysteinyl-leukotrienes

Towards dark matter through the Higgs portal

Das Standardmodell der Teilchenphysik hat sich als eines der erfolgreichsten modelle the theoretischen Physik herausgestellt.Die Entdeckung des Higgsbosons lieferte neue Möglichkeiten um einige noch ungelöste Probleme zu beheben.Eines dieser ungelösten Probleme ist die Natur dunkler Materie. In der theoretischen Physik ist die wichtigste Frage, woraus dunkle Materie besteht.Diese Masterarbeit beschäftig sich damit eine mögliche Antwort auf diese Frage zu finden.Die idee ist über das Standardmodell hinaus danach zu suchen und dafür wird das Higgsportal Modell benutzt. Das Standardmodell wird durch ein Skalarfeld, welches an das Higgsfeld gekoppelt wird, erweitert um die Observablen zu berechnen.In dieser Arbeit wird das dunkle Materie Feld und der Absolutbetrag des Feldes berechnet.The standard model of particle physics has proven to be one of the most successful theories in theoretical physics.The discovery of the Higgs boson offers some new possibilities to solve some remaining problems.One of those unsolved problems is the nature of dark matter. For theoretical physics the most important question is what it consists of.This master thesis deals with finding a possible answer to this question.The main idea is to explore what is beyond the standard model by using the Higgs portal model. In this model a scalar field is added to the standardmodel coupled to the Higgs. By this observable consequences of dark matter become accessible.In this thesis this is investigated, and the dark matter field and the magnitude of the dark matter field are calculated.Eveline OchensbergerZusammenfassungen in Deutsch und EnglischKarl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Masterarbeit, 2018(VLID)267979

IgE-independent interleukin-4 expression and induction of a late phase of leukotriene C4 formation in human blood basophils

T-helper cells can differentiate into at least two subtypes secreting distinct profiles of cytokines, Th1 and Th2, regulating immunoprotection and different immunopathologies. Interleukin-4 (IL-4) is both the product and the inducer of Th2 cells, raising the question whether IL-4 can be produced in response to antigen-independent stimuli. Here we show that human basophils produce IL-4 on stimulation with IL-3 and C5a or C5adesarg in similar amounts as induced by IgE- receptor-cross-linking. C5a-induced IL-4 production requires the presence of IL-3, with little effect of the sequence of stimuli addition. No “Th1-cytokines” (interferon-gamma and IL-2) and even no “Th2-cytokines” (IL-3, IL-5, IL-10, and granulocyte-macrophage colony- stimulating factor) are produced by basophils in response to either IgE- dependent or IgE-independent activation. The generation of leukotriene C4 (LTC4) is regulated in a similar manner. However, C5a induces a rapid, transient burst of leukotriene formation only if added after IL- 3. Interestingly, upon prolonged culture, a late phase of continuous LTC4 production is observed, which also requires two signals (IL-3 and C5a), but rather depends on their continuous presence than on their sequence of action. These data describe an antigen-independent pathway of very restricted IL-4 expression. Thus, basophils must be considered as central immunoregulatory cells of the innate immune system. Furthermore, the results show that LTC4 can also be generated more continuously for many hours, a phenomenon that may be of particular importance in chornic allergic inflammation, such as asthma